Langer feels for under-fire Shaun Marsh

Justin Langer used to pray he wouldn't end up under the sort of scrutiny Shaun Marsh is facing as he battles to save his Test career.

And the Australian coach has no doubt social media, which has responded savagely to Marsh's struggles, has made things far worse for players than it was in his day.

Marsh gave his detractors further ammunition when he fell for two in the first Test against India at Adelaide Oval, dragging a wide-pitched Ravichandran Ashwin delivery onto his stumps in the first over after lunch on Friday.

The 35-year-old has now registered single-figure scores in six consecutive Test innings - the most for any Australian batting in the top five since 1888 - and his highest score from his past 13 Test knocks is 40.

Langer acknowledged that Marsh, who had been the form player at Sheffield Shield level heading into the series, would be feeling the heat.

"Sometimes the more you start stressing about it and the more you start thinking about it and reading about it .... my gosh, imagine being a player these days and reading everyone's opinions of you and how you're going," Langer told SEN radio.

"It's so hard. I know that as a past player, you always knew there was one person under the spotlight and you just wanted to pray everyday it wasn't you. Because you feel it, you feel it.

"How he stops the walls closing in is doing what he's good at - watching the ball, having the attitude that we know works for him and concentrating on nothing else but that.

"If he concentrates on what he's good at, he'll be fine."

Thrust into the role of senior batsman alongside Usman Khawaja in the absence of Steve Smith and David Warner, Marsh had tuned up for the Test series with scores of 80, 98, 163 not out and 81 among six Shield innings.

But his cheap dismissal at Adelaide Oval, which has emboldened his many and vocal critics, reinforces the enormous and frustrating gulf between his best and worst.

A nervous starter beyond compare, Marsh averages almost 60 when he passes 10 but a remarkable 26 of his 60 Test dismissals - including eight this year - have been in single figures.

He struck career-best form last summer, scoring a man-of-the-match century that delivered Australia a 2-0 series lead and plundering more Ashes runs than anyone bar Smith.

But he was a non-factor in South Africa and made just 14 runs at an average of 3.5 in the two-Test series against Pakistan in the UAE in October.